NPR 2008-11-04

The presidential nominees¹ have been dashing through key battleground states and hammering familiar campaign things on this final day before the election. John McCain had seven states on his itinerary². Barack Obama had three. During their all-out push to the finish line came news that Obama's 86-year-old grandmother Madelyn Dunham had died in Honolulu. From Hawaii Public Radio, Kayla Rosenfeld reports.

The Democratic presidential candidate announced the news in a joint³ statement with his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. They said their grandmother Madelyn Dunham died peacefully after a battle with cancer. They added she was the cornerstone of the family, a woman of extraordinary accomplishment⁴, strength and humility⁵. Obama and Ng described their grandmother as the person who encouraged and allowed them to take chances. Obama took a break late last month from campaigning and flew to Hawaii to be with his grandmother. She was suffering from cancer and had just been released from hospital with a broken hip⁶. He told CBS it was an easy decision to make. He arrived too late in 1995 when his mother died of ovarian cancer and he didn't want to make the same mistake twice. For NPR News, I'm Kayla Rosenfeld in Honolulu.

Senator McCain and his wife Cindy issued a statement offering condolences to Obama and his family. Meanwhile, at campaign stops throughout the day, McCain appealed to undecided voters to put him over the top. Steve Newborn of member station WUSF caught up with him in Tampa, Florida.

It was a second stop in Tampa in six days, showing the importance that John McCain is placing on a state that usually vote Republican. But polls are showing Barack Obama with a slight lead in Florida, that's forcing McCain to spend more time in a state he has to carry to have a credible⁷ chance at winning the election. He spoke⁸ to about 1, 000 people outside the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "Thank you all for being here. With this kind of enthusiasm, this kind of intensity⁹, we will win Florida and we will win this race tomorrow. " Meanwhile, Senator Obama held a last day rally across the state in Jacksonville. There are many appearances signaled a distinct change from earlier in the campaign, when most candidates boycotted¹⁰ Florida for moving the date of its primary. For NPR News, I'm Steve Newborn in Tampa.

In Iraq today, at least nine people were killed when a series of bombs exploded in and around Baghdad, at least 30 others were wounded. The violence comes as US and Iraqi negotiators try to work out a final agreement that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq through 2011. Iraqi police say they expect more violence once the pact¹¹ is approved by parliament.

Little movement on Wall Street today. The Dow closed down five points at 9, 319. The NASDAQ gained five points closing at 1, 726. The S&P fell 2 to 966. This is NPR.

Pakistani officials have taken complaints about US missile strikes in the country's tribal¹² region to General David Petraeus who's in Pakistan for the first time as head of US Central Command. They warned Petraeus that the attacks are generating outrage¹³ among Pakistanis and could undermine Pakistan as a key US ally in the region.

For the first time, researchers say they've tried to measure what impact having a parent deployed¹⁴ to Iraq or Afghanistan has on the behavior of young children. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.

Parents have talked about the stress on their families when the mother or father is sent to war, so it's not a surprise that when the researchers went to study families living on a marine¹⁵ base, they found high rates of acting¹⁶ out in young children. The researchers compared 3-5 year olds with their parent overseas to ones whose parent wasn't deployed. The kids with a missing mother or father were far more likely to act out, to hit, to be aggressive or hyperactive, or to be anxious or sad. The study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. An editorial that also appears in the journal says the researchers were so careful on their methods that they probably underestimated the extent of the problem. Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.

California authorities say genetic¹⁷ tests prove aviator¹⁸ and adventurer Steve Fossett is dead. They say the DNA¹⁹ of two bones found last week close to the wreckage²⁰ of Fossett's airplane near the California-Nevada border match Fossett's DNA. The 63-year-old millionaire adventurer vanished in September of 2007 after taking off in a single-engine plane.

1 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

2 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

5 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

6 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

7 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

10 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

11 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

12 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

13 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

14 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

15 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

17 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

18 aviator   

n.飞行家，飞行员

参考例句：

• The young aviator bragged of his exploits in the sky.那名年轻的飞行员吹嘘他在空中飞行的英勇事迹。
• Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous aviator.数百名爱慕者围困那个著名飞行员。

19 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

20 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。